SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER 2014
29
SPORT
South Sydney is looking to
end a 43 year premiership
drought but has to get past
a rejuvenated Canterbury to
do so.
The Rabbitohs had a com-
prehensive win against the
Sydney Roosters last week.
The scoreboard read 32-22
at the final siren, but it was
more telling than the 10
point margin suggests. Hav-
ing come out with an em-
phatic 12-0 start, the Roost-
ers saw their lead quickly
disintegrate as the Bunnies
piled on 32 unanswered
points, before a couple of
late tries helped salvage a
respectable score line for
Sydney.
Canterbury, on the other
hand, had to fend off a per-
sistent Penrith, and it was a
telling defensive effort in the
dying stages of the match, to
win 18-12 and qualify for its
second grand final in three
years.
Fairfax NRL analyst Michael
Carayannis said despite early
nerves the Rabbitohs win was
telling.
"When the Roosters got on
top you're thinking 'oh no,
Souths has sort of faltered
again, but Souths regrouped
and did well and aside from
the first eight minutes they
bashed the Roosters out of
the game and didn't look like
losing."
Canterbury, coached by the
premiership winning Des
Hasler, has grand final expe-
rience up its sleeve, having
played off in the 2012 decid-
er to eventual winner Mel-
bourne Storm, but Carayan-
nis doesn't think it will be a
deciding factor on the day.
"It helps knowing what to
expect throughout the week,
it's very different to any week
that these guys experience
during the season. I don't
think it's going to have an
impact on grand final day in
that sense, but you can lose
a grand final by being caught
in the build up."
"South Sydney has got a
good balance of young guys
that aren't scarred by the past
and older gamers that have
played in some big games
before, so I think they'll be
fine as long as they don't get
caught up in the emotion of
it."
The Bunnies have fallen at
the preliminary finals stage
in their past two campaigns,
which is culminated by a
four-decade long drought,
that has starved both club
and fans. But Carayannis be-
lieves Souths shook the chok-
ing monkey off its back last
week, with the emphatic win
over the Roosters.
"If there's going to be any
doubt creeping into their
minds it would have hap-
pened last week, when they
conceded two quick tries
against the Roosters and
you would have thought
'OK, yep, the dark thoughts
would have come into play',
but they overcame that and
showed that they are pretty
resilient."
The sides share the spoils
in two very close encounters
this year, and will be with-
out key playmakers. The
Bulldogs, unless blessed by
a miracle, will be without
captain Michael Ennis, who
is sidelined with a foot injury.
Whilst the Rabbitohs will be
ruing the loss of Issac Luke
through suspension, but have
the likes of Apisai Koroisau to
take his place.
Carayannis believes the pre-
miership decider is likely to
be won or lost on both sides'
forwards.
"That's where both teams'
strengths lie, in their big
men and a lot of pressure
will come down to the
halves, the six and seven
especially without a recog-
nised hooker in there for
both sides, so whichever
pack can take advantage and
whichever half can kick well
and finish off at the back end
of sets will go a long way to
winning it."
Key players to watch out for
are the likes of Souths full-
back Greg Inglis, and the bat-
tle of the Brits - Sam Burgess
and James Graham.
Carayannis picked Souths
by 10.
The NRL grand final will be
played on Sunday 5 October at
7.15 pm at Olympic Park, Par-
ramatta, NSW.
Championship immortality beckons
The Bulldogs celebrate their preliminary final triumph.
PHOTO: AAP/GRANT TROUVILLE.
Colossal: Greg Inglis celebrates
after scoring a try last week.
PHOTO: AAP/COLIN WHELAN.
Fairfax journalist Michael Carayannis
speaks to Neos Kosmos ahead of
tomorrow’s NRL grand final between
South Sydney and Canterbury
JOHN PYRROS
On the eve of the biggest
day in South Sydney's mod-
ern history, club chairman
Nicholas Pappas recalls the
period that almost cost the
NRL's most successful club
its existence.
Souths is facing off in its
first grand final, against the
Canterbury Bulldogs, since
its last success in 1971, when
it toppled St George 16-10 to
claim a league record 20th
premiership - a record which
still stands. Since then the
club has faced some painful
lows. It was excluded from
the newly formed NRL in
1999, after performing poorly
both on and off the field. Af-
ter extensive (but eventually
successful) changes the club
was reinstated in 2001, but
still endured the full brunt of
poor on-field results, which
culminated in wooden spoons
in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
Actor Russell Crowe, busi-
nessman Peter Holmes à
Court and Pappas were pivot-
al to its resurgence, but Pap-
pas says Bunnies fans must
be credited for their part in
the club's resurrection.
"If it wasn't for the sup-
port of the community and
a huge outpouring of emo-
tion in the streets of Sydney,
we wouldn't have survived,
and that's what keeps coming
in the back of my mind. This
explosion of sentiment that
we're seeing today would
have been lost had the club
been rubbed out of the game,
the oldest club. The most suc-
cessful club in the history of
the code, so that's what's go-
ing through my mind, and
hopefully we're successful."
And fans are readying them-
selves for a drought break-
ing title.
"You've got this huge res-
ervoir of energy ready to
explode when the next pre-
miership arrives. That's be-
ing compounded by the fact
that the club went through
those traumas. If you saw
the emotion when we were
reinstated, the emotion when
we made the grand final last
weekend, I can only imag-
ine what it's going to be like
should we be successful on
Sunday."
But Pappas does not want
the club's grand final appear-
ance to be lost in the "nostal-
gia" of a 15-year-long story
back to the top.
"We've grovelled on that
for too long. We need to talk
about our young champions
on the field on Sunday and
put the wounds to bed once
and for all."
"We're deserving grand fi-
nalists, we think we've set
the benchmark across all the
different facets of the game.
We beat the Roosters to get
in there so we had the more
difficult avenue to get into
the grand final, but it's just
another game on another
day, anything can happen,
and we're full of confidence
our coach Michael Maguire
will have them ready and
primed and Sunday night
will be a evening of celebra-
tions."
But he warned against com-
placency, adding that the
Bunnies' grand final oppo-
nent should not be underes-
timated.
"I am full of respect for the
Bulldogs, they are always
good at the business end of
the season. They are a tena-
cious club, they're relentless
and their supporters are te-
nacious."
"I'm full of respect for what
they have achieved - (coach)
Des Hasler and their playing
ranks, and for their chair-
man Ray Dib who's a close
acquaintance - we wish them
all the best but, we hope we
come out on top."
South Sydney: a phoenix finally rising?
Rabbitohs chairman Nicholas Pappas.
PHOTO:AAP/PAUL MILLER.
Rabbitohs chairman Nicholas Pappas,
with a whole community behind him,
could finally see a long project pay off
with the ultimate success
JOHN PYRROS